Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“Uhhh,” I hesitated. “Okay?”
I wasn’t normally so slutty, but hell, if you saw this man, you’d have jumped at the chance to do him, too!
He grinned, showing off those perfectly white teeth again and I nearly moaned.
“All right, who’s ready to hear the speeches?” my mother called excitedly over the intercom.
That was said over the loud speakers at the front of the room, and I knew it was a good time to leave.
“Ready now?”
Did he sound hopeful?
I nodded sharply, and then stood and offered him my hand.
He stood too, took my hand, and started to lead me outside.
But then someone stopped him before we could make it to freedom.
Shelley, Kenneth’s sister, had her hand on his arm.
“Don’t you want to give your speech?” Shelley batted her eyes at Truth.
The words weren’t said maliciously, but I knew they were meant to hurt, all the same.
“Oh, yeah,” Truth snapped his fingers like he’d completely forgot. “I guess I’d better do that right quick, now shouldn’t I?”
Shelley’s eyes widened, and she reached for his hand, but he was already gone, heading straight to the DJ booth that I’d also had a part in picking out.
“Give me the microphone,” he snapped at the DJ.
The DJ, not a stupid man by any means, nodded mutely and held it out to him.
“Thanks,” he muttered, before turning to face the room.
I moved to put the wall at my back, allowing me to see both Truth and my ex fiancé and his new wife, all the while waiting to see what the man I’d just met was about to do.
I knew it would be good…I just didn’t have any idea how good.
“How’s everyone doing tonight?” he asked into the mic.
The crowd around the new happy couple all turned to stare at Truth, and I pressed my lips together.
“Where do you think you’re going, young lady?” my mother hissed. “You have to stay here for the remainder of the night, or you’re not getting paid.”
I gritted my teeth and turned to my mother, hoping that my fury at her for forcing me to attend didn’t show on my face.
“I was only obligated to stay an hour, per your contract,” I told her. “Nothing else was ever said about me doing anything past my obligation.”
“You will not get paid. I swear it. If you leave, all that money is mine.”
All the money wasn’t hers.
All the money was both of ours.
I was the silent partner that helped fund my mother’s business when she started to go under. I was the one to bust my ass day in and day out to make sure that everything was perfect for this wedding.
And I was also the one that had been here only out of obligation.
So no, I knew my legal rights. I owned fifty-one percent of the company. I didn’t have to do a goddamn thing, and I’d still make money.
Why? Because that’d been the stipulation when my mom had come to me about this business opportunity in the first place. I offer the money and the business sense, and she does all the legwork.
Even though I’d done the majority of the legwork for this particular wedding.
See, I had a trust fund, and my mother did not.
Why? Because my mother had already blown through hers.
However, when I’d turned twenty-one and my great-grandmother had died, leaving me over two million dollars, I’d invested my money like a smart girl who had a money hungry mother to show her everything not to do.
And in the seven years it’d been invested, I now had over six million dollars.
Not that I dressed or acted like it.
In fact, I still had my job as a customer service representative for the Mooresville newspaper.
Why? Because I couldn’t quit.
Literally, each and every time I tried to find the courage to quit, my mother would pull a stunt and I’d use work as an excuse.
It was a vicious cycle. And, one day, I would be able to get out of the dead-end job and do my passion, which was blowing glass, for a living. I would be able to do it all day long, and take long naps in the middle of the afternoon.
But until I finally found the courage to stick up to my mother, I was stuck.
Well and truly stuck.
Like right now, for instance.
I wanted to leave.
The man had literally taken me by the hand, and here I was standing next to my mother listening to her bad mouth me.
“One man’s used up slut is another man’s brand new bride.”
My mouth dropped open as those words came from that sexy mouth I’d been admiring all night, and I did the worst possible thing that I could do at that moment.
Giggle.
“Verity,” my mother hissed. “Don’t you dare.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Leave me alone,” I growled under my breath. “I can laugh if I want to.”